A couple more posts to come on Australia’s fabulous Northern territory, plus posts about Hawaii, Sweden, Turkey and Jordan, and of course more about our travels in Egypt, but

What I’m juiced about right now:

is sharing how incredibly awesome Egypt is! And that now is the perfect time to go.

As we get closer to the town we notice more and more cruise boats moored side by side at the docks, in huddles five or six deep. Our own boat pulls up and is expertly piloted in, parallel to and touching another. Leaving the boat from the lobby on the main deck, we step onto the next boat and cross the lobby, and then onto the next boat and cross the lobby, and then onto the next boat and so on. The boats are lined up seven deep! We are the eighth. Finally after crossing the lobby of Moondance we step on shore at the Egyptian town of Luxor. Luxor will be the final night of our three-night luxury Nile cruise.

In this particular line-up of eight boats only the outside two are operating. The other six are dark and empty. Still, silent, ghost boats waiting for passengers and life, as are almost all of the other boats we’ve seen as we’ve travelled along the Nile from Aswan. There are three hundred and fifty cruise boats on the Nile, and currently only about twenty are working. All those lost jobs. All that lost income. All that money no longer being injected into the economy.

Everywhere we go it is the same story. From the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids at Giza, to the Egyptian Museum, to Philae Temple, to Abu Simbel, to Nile felucca cruising, to riding in a horse and carriage to the Horus Temple at Edfu, to Hatshepsut’s Temple, to the Valley of the Kings, to the Luxor Temple, to the Great Temple at Karnak, everywhere it is the same. There are a great number of hotels, of horses and carriages, of cruise boats, of feluccas, of souvenir vendors, of guides, of tours, of extraordinary sites to see, and there are very very few tourists. All those lost jobs. All that lost income. All that money no longer being injected into the economy.

If ever there was a time to visit Egypt it is now! Egypt’s loss is our gain. There were no line-ups at any site we visited: there were either small crowds or none at all. Our group sat in the astonishing tomb of Ramses V and IV in silence and alone, able to take in the beauty and mystery of this ancient place without the chatter and pressure of crowds pushing around us. We were able to see it, and the other sites we visited, largely unobstructed by crowds of other tourists. Can you imagine? It’s a tourist’s dream. I wish for Egypt that the crowds would return, but if ever there was a time to visit Egypt it is now!

In the past, twelve percent of the workforce was employed in the tourism industry. From July to September 2013 tourism revenue fell by almost sixty-five percent. Apart from those employed directly in tourism there are all those employed in businesses related to it that are also affected – the farmers that supply the hotels and restaurants, the hotels, restaurants, and cafes, the taxi drivers, the airport shuttle companies, and the list goes on. The hotels we stayed in were operating with reduced staff. Tourism has plummeted by thirty-seven percent from what it was five years ago. It’s heartbreaking to see. Hundreds of feluccas lie idle on the banks of the Nile. Souvenir vendors were always pushy, but now there’s a sad desperation in the air.

Our guide talks of the revolution in 2011, when Egypt was unstable, and Hosni Mubarak was ousted. In 2013 Western governments issued warnings against travel to most areas after the overthrow of Mohamed Morsy. People stopped coming. It felt dangerous and unsafe. For about five years now Egypt has been regarded as a risky destination. Curiously there is no travel warning about Egypt on the U.S. government website, but both the Canadian and British governments have warnings against travel in Egypt outside of the main tourist areas. The Australian government website says simply “Reconsider your need to travel”. And just to underline the situation, shortly before we arrived four Egyptian guides and a group of Mexican tourists were killed by Egyptian security forces who mistook them for Islamist militants. They were far out in the desert and allegedly had travelled a short distance into a restricted area. But here’s the thing – if you stay in the main tourist areas – Cairo, the resort towns of Sharm El-Sheik and Hurghada, travel along the Nile from Aswan to Luxor, fly to and from Abu Simbel, and even if you travel north to Alexandria, it is safe and well policed. It is especially safe if you travel in a group tour as we did. Tourist police are everywhere! Egypt needs its tourists and is determined to take care of them, to provide a safety net around them. And these main areas that I’ve mentioned are where you’ll find the sites most worth visiting.

In our group were four Americans, six Australians and us two Canadians. Whenever a member of the tourist police asked our guide the nationalities of our group she would say Australians and Canadians, or something vague like “from a mix of different countries”. She would never mention Americans. If the police knew she was travelling with Americans they would want to escort us, and be paid for it. The reason? The two biggest news networks worldwide are CNN and Fox. If a Mexican, or an Australian, or Romanian were to be killed in Egypt these news networks would report it, and after a day or so it would be forgotten. If Americans were killed it would be a big deal, and news coverage would go on for days, weeks even, because the networks are American. Egypt can’t afford that kind of publicity, so if any of the tourist police find out there are Americans in the group they want to be extra cautious, and extra protective. The Americans in our group quickly learned not to reveal their nationality, not because they are not welcome, but because of the complete opposite: they are rock stars and must be protected at all costs!

Egypt is relatively stable now. National elections were held while we were there, and there was . . . . . . . . nothing. No demonstrations, no riots, no crazy shootings, no unrest. Nothing. It was the lowest voter turnout in years: a quiet parliamentary election in a move towards full democracy. It’s true that it is not wise to go too far off the beaten path, but for the main amazing, fabulous, peak-experience sites and activities it is perfectly wonderfully okay, with few tourists and no line-ups.

Cruise down the Nile, sail in a traditional felucca for an hour or for days, see the pyramids and the Sphinx, the glorious Temple of Abu Simbel and the astonishing Great Temple at Karnak. Watch the sunset over the Nile from the terrace of the Old Cataract Hotel where Agatha Christie sat to write Death on the Nile, visit a Nubian village, and lose your self in the ancient colourful tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The country is full of treasures. If ever there was a time to visit Egypt it is now!

This reminds me so much of our experience in Jordan this past summer. I don’t know how you felt there, but to us the tourist sites seemed so empty and quiet. We thoroughly enjoyed them with their scant crowds but felt, as you do, that it was such a shame for their people and economy to have lost all those tourist dollars. Our Petra guide was downright despondent over the lost income of the past year or so. I am still waffling over my January travel plans – perhaps I should put Egypt into the mix to be considered!

Yes, Jordan was the same, scant crowds, and quiet. Sad for the people. Petra was definitely a highlight, and also Wadi Rum, but I must say Jordan didn’t affect me the way Egypt did. Go to Egypt 🙂
Alison

We went with Intrepid in Egypt and it was excellent, the guide outstanding, the quality of accommodation very good. It is overall more expensive than Exodus, but worth it. We went with Exodus in Jordan. One of the main reasons we choose the Exodus tour was that they allow 2 days at Petra and it was an amazing highlight and 2 days are needed to see it properly. Our guide was excellent there, and took us on the hike so we could look down on the Treasury from above – fabulous experience. However I have reservations about the (same) guide during other parts of the tour – he rushed us through Wadi Rum for no reason. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Intrepid. Exodus I would recommend with reservations. I do intend to write them re the parts of our experience that were less than wonderful.
Alison

Thanks! There are a few places in the world where I do like to be with a guided group, especially when I travel alone, and Egypt would be one of them. In Jordan, we went more independently and hired a guide ourselves each day, which worked out OK. The company I use for remote hiking is not so good with cultural tours, so that’s why I was asking about Intrepid. Thanks for the feedback!

I have been to Egypt many times to go scuba diving in the red sea and loved it there. But I have never been to Cairo or the other amazing sites which is such a shame. After reading these post I feel I must try to visit soon. The safety aspect is a deterrant to many people and it is reassuring to know that it is safer than we think.

I’ve been wanting to go to Egypt since forever… and whenever I decided something always happened the last minute that made me cancel (earthquake, airplane crash, terrorist attack…)
For the last 8 years I’ve been working for the monastery of St Catherine in Sinai and when I started I though, “yes! I am finally going to Egypt now, hooray!”… well you know how life can make you postpone your plans, especially when you feel you can easily do this later on, when the time is right.
Now (and for the last 4 years) people who also work for the monastery, here in Athens, are telling me it’s definitely not a good time to go, since I am a Christian, a woman and want to go not only in the strictly touristic sites, but cross the desert. I know what you mean about the empty tourist sites firsthand, since the monastery suffers by it (and consequently us here…), it’s main income is tourism…
10 days ago, we went to a wedding of a greek family from Cairo, here in Athens and I asked the bride’s sister if now it’s ok to go. She told me “of course! we will go together, don’t worry!… we will have the police to escort us, no problem” ….But I don’t want that, it’s not what I dreamt about visiting that glorious nation and amazing culture!
Maybe I am overly afraid but I have almost a fixation about Egypt and don’t want restrictions, fear or anxiety to ruin my experience 😦
I am very much looking forward for your Egypt posts though, it’s great that you loved it too, well… it’s hard not to fall in love with this magical, blessed place 🙂

You can travel there without a police escort as long as you stay in the main tourist areas. Don’t go to the Sinai except to the heavily guarded resort towns. It’s not what you dream of, but it will still be much much more than you could hope for. The main tourist sites – Pyramids&Sphinx, Abu Simbel, everything around Aswan and Luxor, and down the Nile between these two towns – what you get to see and experience is amazing. Perhaps just let go of the dream and go for something different – a 12 day tour of Egypt like we did. It is so magical that at least part of your dream will be fulfilled.
I hope you get there.
Alison

Alison, I love how your excitement really comes through in the writing. It is sad that so many people give in to paranoia and overly cautious travel warnings. The same phenomenon has been happening in Thailand… after the most recent military coup tourist numbers and bookings dropped by 50% even in unaffected Phuket. I think the situation is better now with the influx of Chinese tourists, although I hated being jostled by the noisy, disrespectful crowds in Bangkok’s Grand Palace (particularly at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha). I would love to be in Egypt right now – it is a country I have dreamed of visiting since I was a small child.

Thanks James. It was an easy piece to write – I’ve wanted to go to Egypt since I was about 16 or 17 and to finally get there, and have it all be so wonderful – well that was pretty exciting. Even though every day was not a highlight the time in Egypt overall was definitely a highlight of all our travels, made better by not having the huge crowds. I was in tears in both Abu Simbel and the tomb of Ramses V and IV in the Valley of the Kings, which I did not expect at all. And the Nile cruise was luxuriously wonderful. Sorry to hear about Thailand. So many countries these days depend on tourism. I hope it pick up, even if it does mean jostling crowds. And I hope you get to Egypt!
Alison

Alison, this could easily find its way into an inflight magazine, or travel magazine. Great writing. Great “voice” and vibe. But hey…where are all the photos? I love the one of the sphinx. I spent a number of days in Cairo in a hotel in walking distance of the Sphinx. But never got a good shot of it. Don’t know why. And there were quite a few people. I loved the museum…with all that ancient stuff and King Tut’s stuff. I do not ever want to drive a car in Cairo, though.

Thanks BF. You’ve given me an idea to send it to Egypt Air for their inflight mag. I’ve already sent it to Intrepid (our tour company) and to the official Egypt Tourism Bureau. We’ll see if anyone’s interested. We loved the museum too except I wanted to make it my life’s mission to spend time in there with glass cleaner and paper towel and clean all the glass casings. Soooooo dusty. The whole place is more like a storage house than a museum, but it was amazing to see all the King Tut stuff. Loved that.
We also do not ever want to drive a car in Cairo. Not ever. Most days I go through a mental gratitude list and one of them while we were there was that we had people to do the driving for us.
Alison

good luck on this…I’ve always thought I should be a travel writer…but got hooked into teaching, and can’t find my way out!!! I guess I have to go back to Egypt because I failed to get down to Abu Simbel…cruised much of the Nile, though

Floating down the Nile has always been right up there on my list of “Must Dos” next to participating in an African Safari. So exotic and doubtless fueled by stories I read as a kid! Tourism is a huge part of the economy of so many countries and I can appreciate the desperation you describe in Egypt related to the impact of lost jobs and lost businesses. Your spin on the American “rockstars” was very interesting too. I guess I’d assumed that the US was unpopular for so many reasons but I hadn’t considered the publicity s**t storm that always accompanies an American injury or death. Great post and we’re rethinking our views about visiting Egypt. Anita

The felucca ride we did was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for me, and wonderful. It was not long enough, but neither would I any longer want the attendant discomfort of living on one for even couple of days. As accommodation it’s very basic, but very smooth and silent. And romantic. Go visit. It’s amazing!
Alison

Thanks so much Helga. We deliberately chose to do a group tour in Egypt because we felt it would be safer. Usually we like to make our own travel arrangements. It was quite wonderful in many ways, not least of which was being able to hand over the reins to someone else and have everything taken care of. Also because we had a great group of people, and also because out leader/guide was truly excellent. And Egypt is amazing and magical. It all made for a really special time.
Alison

Good blog, Alison. And good for you and Don for making the journey. Love the photos, especially the first. It could serve as a definition of romantic adventure. Did you ever read Lawrence Durrel’s Alexandria Quartet? Well worth it. –Curt

Thanks Curt. It was a wonderful journey, and we’re really glad we did it. It had been a lifelong dream for me and I was not disappointed. Definitely a romantic adventure. I haven’t read the Alexandria Quartet. Perhaps it’s time I did.
Alison

As I said, there are tourist police everywhere at the main sites. I believe they are armed. Apart from that there is a strong regular police presence, and also a fairly strong military presence although none of this was overpowering or interfered with any of our activities. Some few buildings a barricaded and heavily armed – I believe the Israeli Embassy in Cairo may have been one of these. The troubles in Egypt have been mainly internal and it seems to be quite stable at the moment. Their external troubles seem to be with Isamlist extremists which the military is policing, perhaps a little too assiduously, hence the tragic deaths of the Mexican tourists and their guides. Don and I travelled with a tour group for extra security, and we never felt unsafe. People were welcoming and friendly, souvenir vendors at times pushy to the point of being overwhelming, but never dangerous. It was a fabulous trip in every way. I can’t say how it would be travelling on your own, or with a friend, but as long as you stick to the main tourist sites I imagine it would be fine. As I said people are friendly but not dangerous, and you’ll be ripped off in a heartbeat by anyone selling anything if they can get away with it. C’est la vie. I would not recommend going off the beaten path unfortunately, due to the issue with the Islamist extremists. Hope this helps.
Alison

Alison thank you for spreading the word. You are so right. We visited Egypt 2 months after the revolution. We had the place to ourselves but at this time there was still much optimism. I can’t imagine what 4 years with virtually no tourism revenue has done. I feel sad for the Egyptian people. It is such a wonderful country and we were treated with such warmth and never experienced any difficulties. Don’t know if you’re still there and have more time. If you do try to get out to white desert and/or Siwa. I wrote a few posts about these spots and am still in contact with two great guides. Have fun!

Two months after the revolution! I bet people thought you were nuts. And I bet it was amazing! I really felt strongly to let people know. It’s a fabulous, unique country with such a rich heritage. We are no longer there. I would love to see the White Desert, but unfortunately our tour didn’t go there, and I think that is the area where the Mexican tourists were mistaken for Islamist extremists, so some caution is still needed. Otherwise we had an extraordinary time, and it definitely rates as one of the highlights of all our travels. Going to look at your posts and drool over what I’ve missed 🙂
Alison

Yes people did think we were nuts but it turned out to be absolutely the right time to go. Like you I wanted to go to Egypt since I was a little girl leafing through national geographic magazines. We decided to go for my 50th birthday and booked the trip just weeks before the revolution. We debated long and hard about cancelling….so glad we didn’t!

I had been to Cairo and Hurghada .Amazing places.How many days were you there?I felt the one week I spent there was too short.The traffic seemed similar to India and our movie star Amitab Bachan is very popular there.Waiting for your Aswan post.

Yes, crazy traffic similar to India. We didn’t get to Hurghada but I agree, Cairo is amazing. We had only about three days there, but 12 days altogether in Egypt. Aswan posts are about four months away as I try to catch up with everything in between.
Alison

Great article!!! There is so much to see and experience in Egypt and it just breaks my heart to see the tourism down so much. I am a travel agent and know there are so many vendors who are eager to work. I loved reading about your experience and knowing how things are changing for the good over there.

Thanks Ms Wanderlust, glad you liked it. I agree about Egypt – so much to see and experience. It’s a great time to go. Our experience was overwhelmingly positive. It was one of the highlights of all out travels.
Alison

A tourist dream to visit with out the crush of other tourists, but sad for the economy. I visited China just after the Tiananmen disaster, same thing, no European tourists. Look forward to seeing more photos.

There were more tourists in some places eg Abu Simbel, but not many, and yes Egypt’s loss was our gain. I look forward to going to China one day though I imagine it has changed quite a lot. Many more posts, and photos, of Egypt to come.
Alison

Very helpful info. We went just 6 months after 9/11, when the world was full of compassion for America. When we told people we were from America, they were so kind! They, of course, could relate to the experience of terrorism on home soil.

There were plenty of tourists there and there is no way we could have gotten a shot of the Sphinx with no one around it!!

It must have been amazing to visit at that time. And of course given the recent downed airline over Sinai clearly most people will avoid going there now, but up and down the Nile I’m convinced is not a problem. It was fabulous to see it all with no crowds. When we went inside the Great Pyramid there was just the 4 the of us from our group who chose to go, no one else. It was fabulous.
Alison

This is wonderful, Alison! We visited Egypt several times when we lived in Khartoum and it was always a joy. We were learning to speak Arabic, but we quickly learned that Sudanese Arabic had some big differences from that spoken in Egypt – there’s always something new to learn. So glad to see you two having a great time. 🙂 ~Terri

Thanks so much Terri. We loved Egypt. I’d wanted to go for most of my life so it was the fulfillment of a dream. We were told that there are great variations in Arabic. It’s spoken in so many countries, from Morocco to Sudan. That’s a pretty broad area. Kudos for even attempting to learn it.
Alison

Fabulous post!!! I always appreciate your insights. In 2010, my boyfriend and I almost visited Cairo for a weekend from Israel, but changed our plans at the last minute. I have since majorly regretted not going and was worried about getting the chance in the near future. It’s good to know that it’s a good time to visit once more!

Thanks Mo. Do get yourself there if you can. I know the bombed Russian airliner over Sinai, and now the Paris attacks are kinda scary, but I don’t think the Cairo and Nile region are a problem. They’ve probably made security even tighter. I would caution flying over Sinai but there are other flight paths into Cairo.
Alison

Well yes, people are scared. I guess what I’m saying is in our experience, as long as you stick to the main tourist sites and travel with an tour company, there’s not that much reason to be scared.
Alison

I think so. We were just there in October and I don’t think things have changed in Egypt all that much for tourists since then, especially if you go with a tour company and stay within the well worn tourist path. It is indeed a beautiful country and worth visiting.
Alison

Fantastic article. I have lived in Egypt for a year and not a single one of my friends and family has visited me for the reasons you mention. I have shared this in the hope that some will consider coming to this fabulous country.